Green Options » greenhouse gas emissions http://greenoptions.com/tag/greenhouse-gas-emissions Posts tagged 'greenhouse gas emissions' Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:03:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en World’s Tallest Green Building? http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/25/worlds-tallest-green-building/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/25/worlds-tallest-green-building/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:03:13 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/25/worlds-tallest-green-building/
Taiwan’s Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world from 2004-2007. Now, it is looking to become the world’s tallest GREEN building.

The building’s owner, Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFC), is putting in $1.9 million to give this 101-story building a green makeover.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/25/worlds-tallest-green-building/feed/ M&M’S® and MARS Going Green? New Solar Garden at Headquarters in New Jersey http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/10/mms%c2%ae-and-mars-going-green-new-solar-garden-at-headquarters-in-new-jersey/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/10/mms%c2%ae-and-mars-going-green-new-solar-garden-at-headquarters-in-new-jersey/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:13:04 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/10/mms%c2%ae-and-mars-going-green-new-solar-garden-at-headquarters-in-new-jersey/
Candy giant MARS, parent company of M&M’S®, DOVE®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, 3 MUSKETEERS®, and TWIX®, turned on a huge new solar array (a “solar garden”) at its headquarters in New Jersey today. No matter what you think of candy food like this, it is good to see such a company going solar. Popular with millions, billions perhaps, and about as mainstream as you can imagine, this is a good step for solar’s more widespread use across the country.

This facility is PSEG Solar Source’s first large-scale solar project. It is one of the largest solar projects in the state of New Jersey, which is already 2nd only to California in its amount of installed solar capacity. The MARS headquarters adjacent to the solar garden is the workplace of about 1,200 employees and is where M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies are manufactured.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/10/mms%c2%ae-and-mars-going-green-new-solar-garden-at-headquarters-in-new-jersey/feed/ New Zealand Environment Court Says No to Huge Wind Farm http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/09/new-zealand-environment-court-says-no-to-huge-wind-farm/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/09/new-zealand-environment-court-says-no-to-huge-wind-farm/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:26:46 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/09/new-zealand-environment-court-says-no-to-huge-wind-farm/
What would have been the Southern Hemisphere’s largest wind farm, a $2 billion NZD ($1.4 billion USD) and 630 MW wind farm in New Zealand, is not happening because New Zealand’s Environment Court says that it would ruin the surrounding landscape.

This project would have powered over a million homes and made a huge dent in New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions. It is not happening now because of a group of NIMBY activists and the Environment Court’s ruling.

This is a huge blow, in itself, to renewable and wind energy proponents, but it also brings concerns for future wind energy projects.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/09/new-zealand-environment-court-says-no-to-huge-wind-farm/feed/ U.S. Water Use Declines Despite 30% Population Increase http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/06/us-water-use-declines-despite-30-population-increase/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/06/us-water-use-declines-despite-30-population-increase/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:57:28 +0000 Tina Casey http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/06/us-water-use-declines-despite-30-population-increase/ Water consumption in the U.S. has declined over the past 25 years, despite a 30% increase in population.The U.S. Department of the Interior reports that overall water consumption in the United States has declined in the past 25 years, even though the population has increased 30% and use by individual American households has increased.  The statistics were compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey.

What’s the secret?  The 25-year patterns of water consumption revealed in the DOI report provide tantalizing clues about the ability of the U.S. to sustain its legendarily consumer-centric lifestyle while stabilizing and ultimately decreasing its contribution to carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/11/06/us-water-use-declines-despite-30-population-increase/feed/ Is Global Scale Biofuels Production Good or Bad for Climate Change? http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/28/is-global-scale-biofuels-production-good-or-bad-for-climate-change/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/28/is-global-scale-biofuels-production-good-or-bad-for-climate-change/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:07:24 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/28/is-global-scale-biofuels-production-good-or-bad-for-climate-change/
There has been a lot of discussion over the last few years about biofuels and whether or not they are actually green, especially when produced on a large, global level.

A new study led by Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) senior scientist Jerry Melillo says no, they aren’t green (when it comes to climate change). However, there are still many important factors to keep in mind before claiming this is the end of a long and complicated discussion.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/28/is-global-scale-biofuels-production-good-or-bad-for-climate-change/feed/ #8 Barcelona, Spain: Great Bicycle City Photo Tour http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/23/8-barcelona-spain-great-bicycle-city-photo-tour/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/23/8-barcelona-spain-great-bicycle-city-photo-tour/#comments Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:46:40 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/23/8-barcelona-spain-great-bicycle-city-photo-tour/

Naked bicyclists, folding bikes, balloon bikes, and more — enjoy this bicycle photo tour of Barcelona.

The third B in a row, Barcelona is next on this list of great bicycle cities (right ahead of Basel, Switzerland and Bogota, Columbia). As a dense city with a wonderful climate, Barcelona is naturally a wonderful place for bicyclists. However, a lot has been done to make it more so. The biggest carrot encouraging bicycling, by far, is Barcelona’s relatively new bike sharing program — Bicing. This is perhaps the best or second best bike sharing program in the world. It is one of a new generation of sophisticated, smart bike sharing programs. Read more about it on page 2.

Beyond Bicing, the city is also working on creating new bicycling routes and bike parking and it hosts fun Bike Week celebrations every year in May. Also, it has been creating better infrastructure for bicyclists due to so many more people bicycling within the past few years. It is transforming itself into a truly world-leading bicycle city.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/23/8-barcelona-spain-great-bicycle-city-photo-tour/feed/ Practical, Multi-University Low Carbon Technology Center http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/14/practical-multi-university-low-carbon-technology-center/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/14/practical-multi-university-low-carbon-technology-center/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:58:27 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/14/practical-multi-university-low-carbon-technology-center/

Looking to create products for the real world as soon as possible, a new research center in the UK is aiming to speed up the development and installment of a variety of low carbon technologies to ensure a greener future for us all.

This new £50 million ($80 million) center hopes to do this through more coordinated and focused efforts from four universities and a regional development agency. The four universities that have teamed up are Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and Yorkshire, and they are working with the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward. The name of the new center is Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF).

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/14/practical-multi-university-low-carbon-technology-center/feed/ Norway 1st Rich Nation to Commit to 40% Reductions http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/09/norway-1st-rich-nation-to-commit-to-40-reductions/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/09/norway-1st-rich-nation-to-commit-to-40-reductions/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:53:59 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/09/norway-1st-rich-nation-to-commit-to-40-reductions/

Norway committed to cut their greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2020 this week. This is the most ambitious goal of any rich nation to date.

Norway’s prime minister Jens Stoltenberg (just re-elected) is meeting the requests of many developing nations and environmental NGOs with this commitment.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/10/09/norway-1st-rich-nation-to-commit-to-40-reductions/feed/ Apple is Next to Leave US Chamber of Commerce, Forcefully http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/apple-is-next-to-leave-us-chamber-of-commerce-forcefully/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/apple-is-next-to-leave-us-chamber-of-commerce-forcefully/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:32:38 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/apple-is-next-to-leave-us-chamber-of-commerce-forcefully/

Following action by Nike, the nation’s leading utility company, and others, Apple resigned from the US Chamber of Commerce this week, and in force.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/apple-is-next-to-leave-us-chamber-of-commerce-forcefully/feed/ WATER: #1 Global Security & Health Concern http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/1-global-security-health-concern-water/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/1-global-security-health-concern-water/#comments Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:56:31 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/1-global-security-health-concern-water/

Water scarcity resulting from climate change is the number one issue the world will have to grapple with in the future, according to chief climate scientist and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri.

On the one hand, we will have more water around us with sea level rising. On the other hand, though, drought caused by climate change will leave possibly billions of people without clean water.

This will cause great health and global security issues. Most of these problems will be caused by water imbalances.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/10/07/1-global-security-health-concern-water/feed/ Nation’s Largest Utility Leaves US Chamber of Commerce — Because of Climate Change? http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/29/nations-largest-utility-leaves-us-chamber-of-commerce-because-of-climate-change/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/29/nations-largest-utility-leaves-us-chamber-of-commerce-because-of-climate-change/#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:55:46 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/29/nations-largest-utility-leaves-us-chamber-of-commerce-because-of-climate-change/

John Rowe, Exelon CEO, said yesterday that climate change legislation is an urgent issue. At the same time, he announced that the nation’s largest utility would not be renewing its membership with the US Chamber of Commerce because of the Chamber of Commerce’s opposition to climate legislation.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/29/nations-largest-utility-leaves-us-chamber-of-commerce-because-of-climate-change/feed/ 10 Global Cities & Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions http://ecoworldly.com/2009/09/25/10-global-cities-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/09/25/10-global-cities-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:36:04 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/09/25/10-global-cities-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions/

A new report ranks ten leading world cities on their greenhouse gas emissions. It also examines how and why the emissions differ.

As the report says, over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Leading cities of the world, global cities, are the places where greenhouse gas emissions really need to be cut. The greenest city from the study is Barcelona and the worst is Denver.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/09/25/10-global-cities-their-greenhouse-gas-emissions/feed/ UK’s Tony Blair Finds Climate Action Will Increase Global GDP & Create Millions of Jobs http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/22/uks-tony-blair-finds-climate-action-will-increase-global-gdp-create-millions-of-jobs/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/22/uks-tony-blair-finds-climate-action-will-increase-global-gdp-create-millions-of-jobs/#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:18:37 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/22/uks-tony-blair-finds-climate-action-will-increase-global-gdp-create-millions-of-jobs/

Climate Action Will Pay for Itself, and More.

The United Nations (UN) stated earlier this month that the cost of avoiding climate change was at least 1% of global GDP — $500-600 billion dollars. Despite this major cost, Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the UK, and The Climate Group, presented a report to the UN yesterday saying that a strong climate deal will “boost growth in all major economies & create millions of new jobs.”

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/22/uks-tony-blair-finds-climate-action-will-increase-global-gdp-create-millions-of-jobs/feed/ Australia is #1 — New World Leader in Global Warming Emissions http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/15/australia-is-1-new-world-leader-in-global-warming-emissions/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/15/australia-is-1-new-world-leader-in-global-warming-emissions/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:33:54 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/15/australia-is-1-new-world-leader-in-global-warming-emissions/
Australia has passed the US as the new world leader in CO2 emissions per capita. That is not the only climate change problem in Australia, though.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/15/australia-is-1-new-world-leader-in-global-warming-emissions/feed/ $900 Billion to Cut China’s Emissions with Wind Power http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/900-billion-to-cut-chinas-emissions-with-wind-power/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/900-billion-to-cut-chinas-emissions-with-wind-power/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:38:25 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/900-billion-to-cut-chinas-emissions-with-wind-power/
As mentioned in previous posts, the United Nations is calling on rich (developed) countries to provide developing countries with $500-600 billion a year in support to tackle climate change. A recent report declares that India needs $1.1 trillion in the next several years to cut emission growth by 50-60% by 2030. Another report from the last week says that China could cut its emissions by 30% by 2030 as well with $900 billion of investment in wind energy.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/900-billion-to-cut-chinas-emissions-with-wind-power/feed/ $1.1 Trillion to Cut Carbon Emissions in India http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/11-trillion-to-cut-carbon-emissions-in-india/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/11-trillion-to-cut-carbon-emissions-in-india/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 08:41:26 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/11-trillion-to-cut-carbon-emissions-in-india/
The United Nations stated a couple weeks ago that developed (rich) countries need to provide developing countries with about $500-600 billion a year to control global warming. This was a big increase from other predictions.

Big portions of these funds need to go to India, a large developing country that includes about one sixth of the world’s population. A new study shows what is needed to significantly cut growth in greenhouse gases in this top country.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/09/14/11-trillion-to-cut-carbon-emissions-in-india/feed/ 100 Days to Copenhagen Climate Conference Marked by Ice Sculptures in China and India http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/29/ice-sculptures-in-china-and-india-to-mark-100-days-to-copenhagen-climate-conference/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/29/ice-sculptures-in-china-and-india-to-mark-100-days-to-copenhagen-climate-conference/#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:06:39 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/29/ice-sculptures-in-china-and-india-to-mark-100-days-to-copenhagen-climate-conference/
Yesterday, marking the 100-day countdown to the world-changing climate change conference in Copenhagen, Greenpeace presented beautiful ice sculptures in China and India to “to symbolise the ‘disappearing future‘ for the 1.3 billion people in Asia at risk of water shortage as a result of climate change” and “to show ‘the world washed away’ by glacial melts. They also engaged in several other creative demonstrations around the world to encourage climate action in Copenhagen in December.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/29/ice-sculptures-in-china-and-india-to-mark-100-days-to-copenhagen-climate-conference/feed/ Nearly 4,000 Airlines Must Reduce Emissions or Are Banned in the EU http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/24/nearly-4000-airlines-must-reduce-emissions-or-are-banned-in-the-eu/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/24/nearly-4000-airlines-must-reduce-emissions-or-are-banned-in-the-eu/#comments Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:51:45 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/24/nearly-4000-airlines-must-reduce-emissions-or-are-banned-in-the-eu/

The European Union (EU) released a 94-page list of airlines that must reduce their emissions or will be banned from European airports two days ago. These are airlines of various sorts from all around the world. Some top players include United Airlines, US Airways, and the US Navy.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/08/24/nearly-4000-airlines-must-reduce-emissions-or-are-banned-in-the-eu/feed/ World’s Largest Leather Exporter Backs Out of Amazon http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/17/worlds-largest-leather-exporter-backs-out-of-amazon/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/17/worlds-largest-leather-exporter-backs-out-of-amazon/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:57:11 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/17/worlds-largest-leather-exporter-backs-out-of-amazon/
Just a couple of weeks ago, soya traders agreed to extend a moratorium on buying soya linked to Amazon destruction. However, as discussed in January, 80% of Amazon deforestation is from cattle farming. With continued involvement of major international organizations and companies — Greenpeace, McDonald’s, Nike, Wal-Mart, and Carrefour — a giant leap in protection of the Amazon was made a few days ago.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/08/17/worlds-largest-leather-exporter-backs-out-of-amazon/feed/ Timberland Leather Won’t Come from Amazonian Cattle http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/timberland-leather-wont-come-from-amazonian-cattle/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/timberland-leather-wont-come-from-amazonian-cattle/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:05:24 +0000 Bryan Nelson http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/timberland-leather-wont-come-from-amazonian-cattle/ Amazon deforestation

Timberland has announced a new policy agreement with Greenpeace to ensure that leather used in new boots and shoes won’t contribute to deforestation in the Amazon.

The policy will issue a moratorium on purchasing any cattle raised in newly deforested areas within the Amazon Rainforest, and it will force all of its suppliers to do the same.

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